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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Confession and Interpretation

By Rev. Richard Holst

In the English-speaking world, a “Reformed” hermeneutic may be defined as the hermeneutic of the Westminster Standards. Everything about it is predicated on Scripture being the Word of God. Thus, “The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture.” The basic principle is this: “The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself....” This stands over against “value-added” approaches involving the adoption of extra-biblical and disproportionate intra-biblical perspectives.

The first “value-added” approach, that of
approaching Scripture from the outside, makes applying the analogy of faith
difficult, if not impossible, and modifies the fundamental belief that
Scripture is the final authority. Disciplines like Social Anthropology,
Literary Theory, Discourse Analysis and perspectives like Second Temple Judaism
are essentially extra-biblical and change the hermeneutical grid. As Robert
Letham remarks “If some principle other than Scripture were the key to its
interpretation, then Scripture would not be the ultimate authority.”[3]

The second, involving the adoption of a
specific biblical teaching or emphasis and turning it into a hermeneutical
lens, distorts the analogy of faith by making a single doctrine or a particular
emphasis normative. Christians may feel exercised by concerns about missions,
contextualizing the gospel, social justice and cultural transformation, some or
all of which might have a basis in scripture; but they are details and as such
too small a lens through which to view the breadth of biblical doctrine. They
effectively take our eyes off the wider context, and sometimes even the
immediate context, by becoming hermeneutical a prioris or axioms. When
someone tells us that Christians are deficient in serving the community, we
embark on a guilt-trip that results in the concern becoming our perspective on
Scripture, rather like the newly convinced Calvinist who finds predestination
on every page. Without realizing it we have created a programmatic statement or
hermeneutical a priori, which serves as an interpretive grid, all
because we felt the need to be relevant to our cultural context.

The Analogy of Scripture and Faith

The Westminster hermeneutic does not
require or guarantee exegetical uniformity. How could it? The Assembly was not a hermeneutical
monolith; it was too diverse and recognized that the meaning of Scripture is
not uniformly accessible. Yet it succeeded in putting forth an approach for
determining questions about the true and full sense of Scripture, which is
essentially simple and straightforward. Given that “All things in Scripture are
not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all”[4]
the first principle to be applied is the analogia scripturae by which
the meaning “...may be searched and known by other places that speak more
clearly” (WCF 1.9). Though wonderfully
simple, it is by no means simplistic, since the comparison of texts presupposes
the ability to rightly judge their doctrinal content.

In order that the analogy of scripture
might work effectively, we must also use the analogia fidei or analogy
of faith. Our ability to “rightly divide the word of truth” is predicated on a
firm grasp of the scriptural faith in general, what the apostle Paul calls “the
whole counsel of God” and “the sacred deposit” and then those elements of the
doctrine contained in particular texts. Thus we compare text with text and
doctrine with doctrine: the Westminster hermeneutic is coherent and consistent!

Necessary Consequence – Right Inference

A step beyond this are those doctrines not
explicitly stated, but implicitly present — which brings us to the use of
inference. Our tendency is to want a text for everything, a kind of one-for-one
match. As a result, some find the use of inference uncongenial (except where it
suits their purpose) and indeed, might consider it a weakness.[5]
However, when texts do not speak directly to a point, that is, when a doctrine
is implicit rather than explicit, we make use of justifiable inference: “The
whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s
salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by
good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture...” (WCF 1.6).

The Reformed hermeneutic unashamedly relies
on this because it is so obviously applicable in a variety of cases. Formal
church membership might lack direct textual support but may be inferred from
the biblical metaphors of the vine, the body, the building, and also from
passages dealing with church order, discipline and worship. Then there are the
doctrines of the Trinity, the admission of women to the Lord’s Supper and the
transition from a Seventh-Day-Sabbath to a First-Day-Sabbath. Infant Baptism
likewise is a necessary inference of covenant theology and biblical texts about
the family. All are inferential and cumulative and cannot be established on the
basis of individual texts. “Good and necessary consequence” is sometimes the
only way of exposing “those doctrines which are principally intended”[6] by Scripture.

Systematic Theology – Interpretation and the
Confession

Exegetical theology precedes systematic theology,
but the former should always be done in the safe environment of the latter,
which points up the importance of the Confession as a whole. While it is
possible to be “Reformed” and have exegetical differences, such differences are
best explored and expressed within the bounds of the agreed system of doctrine.
This might prove uncomfortable for a more creative mind, but there is nothing
like safe parameters for maintaining the unity of the body in the bond of
peace. A confessional hermeneutic provides a safe environment for exploration
and discussion and is a necessary safeguard against exegetical and doctrinal
aberration. But it does not unduly constrain exegesis. The doctrinal standard
of the English-speaking Reformed churches provides the necessary safeguard
against peculiarities by subordinating itself and its decisions to the
authority of Scripture.[7]

According to TheDirectory For
The Public Worship Of God, the matter is entirely straightforward: “in
raising doctrines from the text, his [the preacher’s] care ought to be, first,
that the matter be the truth of God. Secondly,
that it be a truth contained in or grounded on that text, that the hearers may
discern how God teaches it from thence. Thirdly,
that he chiefly insists upon those doctrines which are principally intended,
and make most for the edification of the hearers.”[8]

Rev. Holst is the convener for the Committee for Inter-church Relations, Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales. E-mail: crh.holst1@googlemail.com. See his blog, Elder at the Gate, here.

[6]WESTMINSTER DIRECTORY FOR THE PUBLICK WORSHIP OF GOD:
Section on Preaching

[7] WCF, 31. IV; All synods or councils, since the apostles' times,
whether general or particular, may err; and many have erred. Therefore they are
not to be made the rule of faith, or practice; but to be used as a help in
both. This raises the question of the
Confession’s relationship to the Creeds. According to
Letham, Westminster Assembly, 156-157, the Assembly was
self-contradictory in excluding the ecumenical creeds while spending “several
years painstakingly composing a Confession of Faith and two Catechisms in order
to provide a solid foundation for the Church of England...” But Van Dixhoorn
answers that “avoiding the Apostles”
Creed has given both of theWestminster Catechismstwo strengths. First, the
catechisms are based explicitly on Scripture, which is consistent with the
position found in the first chapter of theConfession:All our doctrine comes from
Scripture alone. Second, every catechism that uses theApostles” Creed reflects one of
the weaknesses of the Creed — there is no mention of the importance of Christ”s
life.” http://www.the-highway.com/larger-catechism_Dixhoorn.html